Pennsylvania Roads (Philadelphia, Hershey, Conshohocken: home, unemployment, neighborhood)

[psulions2007]

One thing I'll add...PA has so many scenic drives, that the scenery around you distracts one from the quality of the road. Oh how I miss it...

[NoMoss]

Originally Posted by psulions2007

One thing I'll add...PA has so many scenic drives, that the scenery around you distracts one from the quality of the road. Oh how I miss it...

I so agree with you. In my undoubtedly unrealistic memories of PA, I don't remember any bad roads except for the Turnpike and certain stretches of 22. The back roads weren't bad. I see you are trapped for some reason, psulions2007, in NE; so sorry.
Next week--PA! Goodbye TN!

[Icy Tea]

Pa roads get used much more than just about any other state, at least in the eastern USA. Trucks tear up the highways , I read that a single full tractor trailer is the equivalent of 400 cars. And we're right in the middle of pothole country. freezes and thaws mess up macadam. Cement roads hold up better they also are far more dangerous in winter with ice. And snowplows and rock salt tear up macadam roads. Pa also has more paved roads than any other eastern state. That means a lot of upkeep.
So don't blame the state for not having the best of roads.

[ilovephillyandcars]

State owned roads are a disgust to our citizens. I mean each & everyone of them. So what if they're one of the most used roads of any eastern states. I've driven down to GA on I-85 from PATP (I-76, its a dead road after 9 p.m.) a dozen times & I see 3-4 times as much traffic on I-85 (especially trucks) & they're still great. If anything, roads that are heavily traveled like I-85 or NJTP are maintained better due to some type of funding (toll, taxes, etc.) but not **** PA roads. I get so frustrated while driving on them.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by ilovephillyandcars

State owned roads are a disgust to our citizens. I mean each & everyone of them.

Were you aware that Pennsylvania has more miles of state-maintained roads than any other state? Do you not think that that might stretch resources a little bit thinner than normal? Just wondering.

Originally Posted by ilovephillyandcars

So what if they're one of the most used roads of any eastern states.

The greater the traffic volume, the faster they break down; that's what. By the way, why do you think Pennsylvania is reconstructing its highways as opposed to simply resurfacing them? It's because the majority of the state's highways were built before newer Interstate engineering standards were implemented (the new standards were implemented around 1980 +/- a few years), so the state has had the extra cost of having to rebuild most of its Interstates to meet the new standards -- and if I may say so, those areas that have been reconstructed since the 1980's have stayed in better shape for much longer. I-79 between Washington and Bridgeville was reconstructed 15 years ago, and it's still in good shape.

Originally Posted by ilovephillyandcars

I've driven down to GA on I-85 from PATP (I-76, its a dead road after 9 p.m.) a dozen times & I see 3-4 times as much traffic on I-85 (especially trucks) & they're still great.

I-85 is a relatively new Interstate that was built to newer Interstate standards from the start; ergo, it's still in decent shape.

For the record, new Interstate engineering standards include longer on- and off-ramps, plus a roadbed that's about twice as deep as the old standards. Not only do the highways built in Pennsylvania before the new standards and not yet reconstructed need to be, but several interchanges do as well, in order to increase the length of the on- and off-ramps.

[psulions2007]

Originally Posted by ilovephillyandcars

State owned roads are a disgust to our citizens. I mean each & everyone of them. So what if they're one of the most used roads of any eastern states. I've driven down to GA on I-85 from PATP (I-76, its a dead road after 9 p.m.) a dozen times & I see 3-4 times as much traffic on I-85 (especially trucks) & they're still great. If anything, roads that are heavily traveled like I-85 or NJTP are maintained better due to some type of funding (toll, taxes, etc.) but not **** PA roads. I get so frustrated while driving on them.

I think you don't know just how many roads in PA are state owned and maintained.

Next time you're out driving, look on the side of the road for little white squares. These little white squares will look something like this

SR 3022
65

or

SR 5950
43

All of these are state owned and maintained.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by Icy Tea

And we're right in the middle of pothole country. freezes and thaws mess up macadam.

Pssst .... Countless other states in the Union experience freeze/thaw cycles every year, too. And their roads are light years ahead in maintenance.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Pssst .... Countless other states in the Union experience freeze/thaw cycles every year, too. And their roads are light years ahead in maintenance.

That's because their resources aren't spread as thin, because they don't have as many miles of road to maintain. Like the poster above you said, you simply don't realize just how extensive the network of state-maintained roads is in Pennsylvania. They have more to maintain than any other state, and they do it with little federal help too. (For the record, Interstates are not state roads; they're federal roads.)

[Ohiogirl81]

Whatever. Those resources may not be spread so thin if PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission weren't both a couple of bloated, dysfunctional, self-serving, corrupt and wasteful organizations.

(For the record, Interstates are not state roads; they're federal roads.)

For the record, they're not; they are constructed, owned and maintained by the individual states. The Interstate Highway System was built with 90-10 federal/state funding, but the states are responsible for maintaining their portions of the interstates. States do receive federal highway funding, but it's up to the individual state to determine which projects to undertake.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Whatever. Those resources may not be spread so thin if PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission weren't both a couple of bloated, dysfunctional, self-serving, corrupt and wasteful organizations.

You just described countless other government agencies across the United States, including many in your precious state of Ohio. And maybe PennDOT is "bloated and dysfunctional" precisely because it has so much more to take care of than any other state. As for "self-serving and corrupt," that's the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, not PennDOT, and they're still making progress on reconstructing an entire, 359-mile stretch of road in spite of it -- and based on the reconstructed parts I've driven on in western Pennsylvania, they're doing a good job of it too. Just because a couple of people at the top are corrupt doesn't mean everybody who works for the agency is. That's like saying your average, non-executive office worker for Enron was corrupt simply because Kenneth Lay was, which is false.

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

For the record, they're not; they are constructed, owned and maintained by the individual states. The Interstate Highway System was built with 90-10 federal/state funding, but the states are responsible for maintaining their portions of the interstates. States do receive federal highway funding, but it's up to the individual state to determine which projects to undertake.

Well ****; then that means the resources are spread even thinner than I thought!